SUPPLY CHAIN ARTICLES

  • A "Hot Take" on Personalized mRNA Medicines

    mRNA’s small-scale and cell-free production are often-touted benefits in the personalized medicines sphere. But as I reviewed my notes from the BioPhorum ATMP member event, I found myself coming face to face with a difficult truth.

  • What Violin Making Can Teach Us About mRNA Therapeutic Quality

    Managing the mRNA supply chain and working in mRNA process development may not look anything like the work a luthier does to hew an instrument from an ancient spruce tree. But violin craftmanship actually serves as a fantastic metaphor for the challenging work the mRNA therapeutics space is tackling in sourcing and qualifying raw materials and optimizing the critical IVT reaction.

  • mRNA Vaccines: Key Considerations For Development & Manufacturing

    As we wind down National Immunization Awareness Month, this article looks at the complexities around developing and manufacturing mRNA vaccines and how you should address those complexities. Topics include delivery, process validation, long-term effectiveness, GMP, regulatory approval, and more. 

  • ARW's ATMP Manufacturing Must-Reads (ST. PATRICK'S DAY EDITION!)

    Day-in and day-out, I write, read, listen to, and watch as much content as I can about CGT and RNA therapy manufacturing, in particular, and/or other ATMP industry-related topics that you should at least be aware of in the manufacturing facility. Once a month, I compile the articles and industry updates I think are most worthy of your time into an unconventional roundup article.

  • “To Thine Own [mRNA Product] Be True:” Shakespeare's Guide To RNA GMP Principles

    In the following article, I offer some of the biggest tips and tricks experts offered during a panel discussion on the challenges of navigating GMP principles in the RNA space today — with a little bit of help from Shakespeare himself. 

  • Assessing Quality Of mRNA Vaccines: Key Considerations

    To address the need for standards for mRNA vaccines, the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) has convened vaccine experts to identify important quality attributes and to propose test methods that can be used to assess mRNA vaccine products. This article shares those CQAs and analytical procedure tips.

SUPPLY CHAIN VIDEOS

There remain a lot of gaps in our understanding of plasmid quality, particularly for high-quality mRNA production (as opposed to viral vector production). In this segment of a recent Advancing RNA Live panel, speakers Adi Nair, Tyler Goodwin, and April Sena highlight their biggest questions around plasmid DNA quality, as well as the pros and cons of some of the analytical methods upon which we’re relying most heavily today to assess plasmid quality.

In this Advancing RNA Live segment, several speakers raise concerns about the industry's ability to accurately measure impurities, particularly dsRNA, arguing that current analytics are insufficient, especially for high-dose therapeutics.

Together, Life Edit Therapeutics’ April Sena and Sanofi’s Troiano share their perspectives on raw material quality & IP-related considerations for managing the supply chain for next-generation RNA modalities.

While we can make lots of mRNA at a smaller scale, when it comes to scaling up to kg quantities of mRNA, our current batch processes leave a lot to be desired. Together, Stu Sundseth of Tune Therapeutics and Christian Dohmen of Ethris unpack the biggest barriers to scaling IVT to achieve the desired yield and quality of mRNA, offering their take on how the field is innovating to overcome these issues. 

ARTICLES, APP NOTES, CASE STUDIES, & WHITE PAPERS